I just don't see with all the issues we've seen with the ACA (higher costs, weaker coverage for many, administrative headaches) how you'd convince the majority of Americans to turn more of our national health care over to the federal government.

Here's what I am inclined to support at this point......

1) Scrap most of the ACA.
2) Expand medicare/medicaid to ensure those who cannot get insurance any other way can have basic coverage.
3) Follow the Clinton Plan to try and lower drug costs
4) Expand tax credits for Individual and Family health savings accounts
5) Allow the insurance companies go back to a true free market with a la carte health plans with minimal government regulations
 

You would have to calculate what the Premiums would be for someone in their working years to subscribe to Medicare. If can be fairly derived, I see no problem with people in their working years buying into Medicare.
Would it save them any money? I don't know.
Remember, healthcare is very expensive, and Americans love their high tech treatments. You don't get it for nothing.
No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

Last edited by Goose (10/25/2016 7:20 am)

Just Fred wrote:

Ok, then how about considering a public option.  Those who don't yet qualify for medicare would have the option of buying into the program or shopping around for a private for-profit plan.

Of course, medicare recipients are being funded by those who are not yet eligible to receive benefits and those who have been paying into it for years, but in the grand scheme of things I consider healthcare to be a national priority along with national defense and education.

That is the flaw in your scheme. It would be difficult if not impossible to calculate the premium needed (and extra tax percentage required of everyone including their employers as it is today) unless and until we would decide on universal health coverage. I am not opposed to universal health coverage, but just letting people pick and choose would never work. 

Just Fred wrote:

I just don't see with all the issues we've seen with the ACA (higher costs, weaker coverage for many, administrative headaches) how you'd convince the majority of Americans to turn more of our national health care over to the federal government.  -  Lager

But, that's the point.  ACA is still run by private-for-profit insurance companies. Once again, in my world view, I don't think healthcare should operate as a for-profit business.  I feel the same way about national defense and education.
 

But defense (Boeing/Northrup-Grumman/Honeywell) is in many cases a for-profit business. Same with education (particularly higher education)

I personally don't have a problem with health insurance being run by companies trying to make a profit per se. So long as people get a fair payout based on them paying their premiums and based on the terms and conditions they signed up for.

And I am all for having something similar to Liz Warren's consumer financial protection bureau for health insurance in an effort to keep the insurance industry honest.

What I am just not seeing is the federal government as being some sort of magic pill to solving the nation's health care needs. We're a country of 300 million people. There's no way from a cost or care perspective that you can shoehorn everyone into a one size fits all approach.

As I have stated since the ACA started. I lived it. We went from having hundreds of options for health insurance to twelve during the time we were in the ACA. And the premiums and co-pays went up and the coverage levels went down and we were paying for stuff we didn't need and wouldn't use.

Add to that that my employer based insurance costs and co-pays goes up year after year as well. Granted, it could have gone up the same without the ACA. I guess we'll never know.

Look, I supported the ACA from the outset. It was an admirable endeavor in a tough political environment. But, as Micheal Moore said last night on the Chris Hayes show, it was half baked. You either go all the way to single payer universal coverage, or not.

There is not the will of the people to get to single payer. So we can either try to tweak a system that has been shown to be broken, or give a safety net to those who can only get insurance through the ACA and let the free market work again for everyone else.